Here are the results of the West Indies Cricket Umpires Association (WICUA) 2011 Oral and Practical Examination Results as released to the media by USACUA.

Twenty-two (22) candidates took the 2011 Final Oral and Practical examinations; 21 persons (95.5%) were successful and one (1) person (4.5%) failed. The candidate who attained the highest percentage is Mohammed Baksh of the United States of America (USA) with 98%, followed by Nazar Ali (USA); Barry Singh and Kellman Kowlessar, both Trinidadians, each attaining scores of 97%. Umpire Deepak Katte of New Jersey (Atlantic Region) and Ravishankar Byrappagowda of California (North West Region) attained individual scores of 96%.

Congratulations & Best Wishes to one and all!

USACUA President and WICUA Area I Vice-President, Mr. Fitzroy Hayles has released the official WICUA 2011 Practical and Oral Examination Results. Here is his statement:

On behalf of the Executives and members of the USACUA Inc, it gives me immense pleasure as President to extend our hearty congratulations to all USACUA Umpires who successfully completed the recently concluded WICUA Oral and Practical Examination, 2011.

I would like to specially congratulate Mr. Mohamed S. Baksh of New York, for TOPPING the WICUA Examinations 2011. Special congratulations also to Mr. Ali Nazar of Connecticut for securing the second position and to Mr. Ravishankar of California and Mr. Deepak Katte from New Jersey, for attaining joint third position in the WICUA Examinations 2011.

I'm also proud to say that USACUA by securing a berth in every one of the top 3 positions, was able to gain 4 out of the 6 positions in the top three rankings.

This is history of sorts for the association and a great achievement.

In effect, the results are testament of what we can do as an Association, when we join together and become dedicated to a "process".

Your performances exemplify the continued efforts of the USACUA Training and Examination Department and the personal commitment demonstrated by the candidates and our instructors.

I'm proudly quoting excerpts from the Chairman of WICUA's Training & Examination:

For those of you who couldn't unfortunately cross the line this time around, please do not loose heart. Success is not very far away. Just need a little more push. We are there to help.

For those to come, make the commitment and endeavor to put out the efforts to reach or exceed the levels attained by your fellow members.

To you all, this is just the beginning and the sky should always be your limit.

Congratulations & Best Wishes are in store for all.

USACUA President Mr. Fitzroy Hayles has announced that the Annual General Meeting of the Association wil be held on:
Sunday, March 4, 2012 - 2:00pm sharp

The Location:
1012 Ralph Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11233
(Beween Tilden and Snyder)

The agenda of the meeting shall be as follows:

• Review the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting
• Correction and confirmation of the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting
• Review correspondences
• Review the Secretary's report
• Review reports from committees
• Review the President's annual report
• Review the Treasurer's report
• Conduct any other business that may properly come before the meeting

All Association Members are requested to attend the meeting.

USACUA member and NJSCUA President Mr. Deepak Katte has led a successful initiative for an online umpiring training course for the 2012 season. Members can attend the four hour weekly training course on Sundays 8:00am to 12:00pm from the convenience of their own home.

The participants require an internet connection to connect and participate in the training course.

Mr. Deepak Katte and Mr. Fitzroy Hayles planned the event to ensure that the USACUA membership can have access to the online material to prepare them for the USACUA and WICUA exams

USACUA President Mr. Fitzroy Hayles regretfully announced the passing away of Mr. Owen Roberts, a founding member of the USA Cricket Umpires Association.

Mr. Roberts was one of the founding member of our association and have served with distinction in several capacities within the association.

Mr. Roberts passed away early this morning, January 2nd, 2012 after a long illness. We wish to extend our sympathy to his family in their time of grief.

USACUA President Mr. Fitzroy Hayles announces the training sessions forUmpires and Scorers will commence on:

The sessions will run for a period of fourteen weeks and will culminate with the administration of the USACUA Preliminary and Final Exams. Prospective umpires are reminded that they will need to maintain an eighty (80) percent attendance rate in order to qualify to sit any examination administered by the Association.

Members who have taken and passed the USACUA or the WICUA qualifying examinations are also required to attend these seminars.

Information about the training sessions has already being communicated to the USACA’s Regional Directors, league Presidents and other league executives. Coordinators and league representatives are asked to convey this information to prospective umpires or individuals within the leagues who aspire to be trained as umpires. They may also submit contact information of clubs members to the USACUA secretariat so that the information can be directly forwarded to them.

WICUA will be conducting the 2011 Oral Examinations at two centers, Brooklyn NY and Fort Lauderdale FL. Both centers will conduct the WICUA Oral Examinations on December 11, 2011 at 9:00AM sharp.

A $10 fee will be charged by WICUA and payable to WICUA to be eligible to take on the Oral Examinations.

Center 1:

Lucas Sports Club
1012, Ralph Avenue,
Brooklyn NY

Contacts: Mr. Hammy Reid (917-741-7991) and/or Mr. Fitzroy Hayles
Examiners: To be determined.

Center 2:

Address to be announced
Fort Lauderdale FL

Contacts: Mr. Astor Carroll (305-654-879)
Examiners: Basdoe Dookie (Canada)
Local Examiners: Hubert Smythe and Mohamed Baksh

Eligible Umpires
Augustine Francis - Georgia
Ephraim Robertson - Georgia
Carl Miles - Georgia
Wesley McIntosh - Massachusetts
Macmillan Diah - Florida
Babu Venkatachalapathy - Texas
Ravishankar Byrappagowda - California
Mihir Patel - New Jersey
Premdath Mangale - Florida
Deepak Katte - New Jersey
Nazar Ali - Connecticut
Lynden McLaren - Massachusetts
Royland Williams - Florida
Ram Ragoo - Maryland
Mohamed Baksh - New York
Sugan Kumar - Connecticut
Astor Carroll - Florida
Chandrasekharan Raman - New Jersey
Shinivas Reddy Chirra - New Jersey
Edward Clarke - Massachusetts
John Williams - Connecticut

United States of America Cricket Umpires Association proudly represented USA at the 2011 West Indies Cricket Umpires Association Biennial Convention held in St. Lucia.

USACUA President Mr. Fitzroy Hayles and the USACUA Chairman of Training and Examinations, Mr. Mohammed N. Baksh served as delegates. The week long convention was full of cricketing and cultural exchanges among delegates and observers from the member countries.

Among other items of business that were conducted at the Convention, Cayman Islands was voted in as the newest full member of the Association. USA recognized Mr. Billy Doctrove from Dominica and Mr. Vivian Johnson of Jamaica for their dedicated and tireless services to WICUA and presented them with plaques of appreciation.

Mr. Fitzroy Hayles was successfully elected to serve as the Vice President of Area I, comprising of Jamaica, USA, Canada, Cayman Islands and Bermuda. He will hold this position for 2 years.

USACUA extends its warm wishes and congratulations to the newly elected Leadership of WICUA.

The next WICUA 26th Biennial convention will be held in Trinidad.

The following are the individuals have been nominated to serve on said Committee:

1. Ragoo, R., Atlantic Region
2. Baksh, M, USACUA, Inc.
3. Scott, L. USACUA, Inc.
4. Smythe, H., Umpire, South East
5. Katte, D., Umpire, Atlantic Region
6. Chakravarthy, G., USACUA, Inc.
7. James, A., USACUA, Inc.
8. Modeste, C., USACUA, Inc.
9. Reid, H., USACUA, Inc.
10. Renganathan, S., Central East
11. Naidu, R., South East
12. Bachan, P., USACUA Representative, North East Region
13. Carrington, G., Umpire Representative, Atlanta Region
14. McIntosh, W., Umpire Representative, Boston Area
15. Venkatachalapathy, B., Central West
16. Sankar, R., Northern California Cricket Association
17. Khan, Z., Northern California Cricket Association
18. Taylor, S., South East Region (Florida)
19. Merchant, J., South East (Florida)
20. Miles, C., South East (Atlanta)

Annual General Meeting / Training Sessions / Graduation

Dear Members,

Our Annual General Meeting, Yearly Training Sessions of USACUA, Inc. are schedule for the following dates and tentative date for our Annual Graduation Dinner/Dance.
Annual Training Sessions – January 10, 2010 at 1:00pm

Note: Training Sessions every Sunday Jan 10 – April 25, 2009 (Exam)
Time: 1pm – 4pm
Please note that USACUA supervise training sessions will be held outside Brooklyn, New York on dates and times to be confirm.

Day: Sunday, February 21, 2010 
Time: 1:00PM
Place: 1012 Ralph Avenue
            (Between Tilden and Snyder Avenues)
             Brooklyn New York 11203
 
AGM Agenda

1. Welcome & Greetings
2. Review Minutes of Previous AGM Meeting
3. Correction and Confirmation of Minutes Previous (AGM)
4. Review Correspondences
5. Review the Secretary’s Report
6. Review Report from Committees
7. Review the President’s Annual Report
8. Review the Treasurer’s Report
9. Any Other Business
10. Adjournment

Roan McFarlane
Secretary USACUA, Inc.

As part of an ambitious plan to stretch its already wide wingspan of influence all across the USA, the USACUA has announced that it will partner with the New Jersey State Cricket AND Umpires' Association and begin weekly umpires' training sessions in New Jersey.

These will mirror the currently conducted sessions (sometimes referred to as seminars) in Brooklyn, NY. These training sessions are intended to impart knowledge about the 'Laws of Cricket' to developing umpires and, at the same time, keep the experienced and qualified umpires abreast with the changes in the MCC codes (if any) as well as to regurgitate and refresh their memories before every new season.

The training will be conducted in New Jersey by USACUA's own Assistant Secretary, Gokul R. Chakravarthy who is also a member of its training committee.

Click here for more up-to-date information and details on enrolling in this course.

DreamCricket.com today announced today The USA Cricket Association (“USACA”) and New Zealand Cricket (“NZC”) today announced the commencement of formal discussions with the intention of establishing a strategic partnership agreement between the two national cricket boards in the near future.

“We are very positive and excited about the benefits our relationship with NZC can bring to USA Cricket,” stated USACA CEO Don Lockerbie. “USA Cricket can learn greatly from the experience and knowledge of NZC, and we believe there are real and significant cricketing benefits and commercial opportunities possible through this partnership.”

Click here for the Official USACUA Match Report Form

Administrators of all leagues and tournaments in the USA are encouraged to include Umpires' Match Reports are part of their normal process, regardless of whether or not there were untoward incidents occuring in any of the matches. 

Umpires all across the USA are also encouraged to take it upon themselves to submit a Match Report (at least in a simple form such as the one available in this article), regardless of whether or not the leagues they officiate in stipulate this and also regardless of whether or not there were untoward incidents occuring in any of the matches. 

This will ensure proper record-keeping and facilitate the creation of a repository of teams' and individual players' conduct over time.

Click here for the Official Flier of the tournament

Click here for the Umpires' assignment table

Click here for the Special Regulations that shall apply to this ICC Americas U-15 tournament

Further updates shall be provided as they become available.

The following is an email from USACUA President, Mr. Fitzroy Hayles, with regards to the upcoming ICC Under 15 games to be held in NY City on August 16 through 23 rd. 2009

Click here for the Official Flier of the tournament

The following issues were topics of discussion in a meeting with USACA Cricket Operations chair:

1. USACUA is asked to submit a panel of nine (9) umpires to ICC/USACA
2. Fee for the tournament is $75.00 per game. USACA is trying to secure a higher match fee of $100.00 for umpires. More info shall be provided as it becomes available.
3. Match is scheduled for Gateway Park.
4. Three countries participation: Canada, USA and Bermuda.
5. One match per day, three umpires needed (two on-field umpires plus one umpire to serve as cricket manager/third Umpire)
6. Duckworth/Lewis method will be used to establish target score. Third umpire responsible for Duckworth/Lewis processing
7. Room and board will **NOT** be provided by ICC/ USACA

Plans:

1. Interested umpires are asked to advise USACUA of their availability for the tournament as soon as possible.
2. Only USACUA 'Tier One' umpires will be appointed for the tournament.
3. Members should be aware that only nine umpires will be empanelled for the tournament.
4. Umpires are not guaranteed assignments on special requested dates.
5. Rules and playing conditions are attached for your information. Click here for the document containing these special regulations.
6. ICC/USACA has requested a meeting with all participating umpires before the tournament.
7. Aa is customary, USACUA's Training Committee will conduct their own training for the tournament at a later date.
8. It shall be confirmed from the ICC/USACA whether umpires' uniforms will be provided for the tournament.
9. If not, all participating umpires MUST be attired in USACUA uniforms. Such uniform is to CLEARLY DISPLAY USACUA logo on the headwear and shirt. NO EXCEPTIONS shall be made to this rule. USACUA hats and polo shirts are available for purchase.

Further updates shall be provided as they become available.
Fitz Hayles
President, USACUA Inc.

• Registration: Registration is limited and is strictly on a first-come (payment received) first- served basis.

• There is a non-refundable fee of $150 per person payable to the Atlantic Region Cricket Board (ARCB)

• Please remit payment by April 15th.

• Schedule: The course runs from May 1st  through May 3rd (3 days) from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM

• Venue: St. Agnes & St. Paul Episcopal Church, 206 Renshaw Ave. East Orange, NJ 07017.